Imbibition and percentage of germination of cape gooseberry (physalis peruviana l.) seeds under nacl stress

Abstract

In Colombia cape gooseberry is often grown on salt affected soils. The present study evaluated the effect of increasing NaCl concentrations on imbibition and percentage of germination of ‘Colombia’ ecotype cape gooseberry seeds. Under controlled laboratory conditions (25/20°C day/night temperature, 80% relative humidity, and a 12 hour photoperiod), the seeds were subjected to 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 mM NaCl concentrations (corresponding to respective electrical conductivity levels of 0.8, 3.0, 6.0, 9.0, and 12.2 dS m-1), during an evaluation period of 299 hours. A significantly lower imbibition level, expressed as 35% of the fresh weight accumulated by the control seeds, was observed in the 120 mM NaCl treatment. At the end of the experiment, respective germination percentages of 97.6% and 96.4% were recorded in the salt-free seeds and in those exposed to 30 mM NaCl. In contrast, only 62.5% of those seeds treated with 120 mM NaCl germinated. Root malformations such as lack of elongation were observed in the highest NaCl concentration treatment. Regarding its germination process, cape gooseberry can be classified as moderately tolerant to sodium. In effect, after 299 h of treatment, there was no statistical difference in imbibition level or percentage of germination between the 0, 30 and 60 mM NaCl treatments.